Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1992, Page 59

THE LICHENS OF THE FAROES
63
The lichen flora of the Faroes has been
studied at several occasions. Ro-strup 1870
(1) and Branth 1901 (2) gave the first
overviews. Mayor works on the macro-
lichens are Degelius 1966 (5) and K.
Hansen 1968 (6). The epiphytic lichens
were treated by Alstrup & Alstrup 1989
(10). Other contributions are found in the
list of literature. The reports of Ostenfeld
1901 (31) and Hansen 1967 (50) were
repeated in Branth (2) and Hansen (6).
Materials
The present work includes all previous lit-
erature reports and new collections made
by Alstrup in 1979 and 1985, previously
unidentified microlichens collected by
Degelius in 1956, collections of Hansen
and Fosaa made in 1983 and of Svane in
1985. The collections in the Botanical
Museum, Copenhagen (C) have been stud-
ied, mostly by Alstrup. This revealed many
overlooked species and resulted in many
new determinations. Christensen studied
the material of Cladonia and Ramalina,
Hansen contributed with Caloplaca and the
material of Hansen and Fosaa, and Svane
with her own collections. The collections
of Degelius were studied partly by himself,
partly by Hansen and Alstrup. A few col-
lections in the Museum of Natural History,
Tórshavn (NSF), among them some of
Townrow’s (4) collections, were studied by
Alstrup.
The collections of Alstrup, Hansen and
Fosaa are deposited in C together with the
older Danish collections, Svane’s material
is found in AAU, while Degelius’ collec-
tions are kept in his own herbarium. Some
old material is probably kept in British
museums, and that of Simmons (48) in
Sweden, but it has not been studied again.
Geographical and altitudinal distribu-
tion of the lichen flora
Most of the lichen species are widespread,
often of circumpolar distribution. All
Faroese lichens except Perhups Micarea
subconfusa are known from Europe, while
77% are known from North America,
which has not, however, been so intensely
studied as Europe. All the Faroese species
known from North America are also known
from Europe. The known occurrences of
Faroese species in different regions of
Europe are shown in Table 2 together with
their eventual occurrence in North Ame-
rica. The closest relationship is found to
Scandinavia with 96% of all species known
from the boreal and alpine regions. The
species which are not known from
Scandinavia are mostly the newly des-
cribed ones, and there is no reason to
believe, that they will not eventually turn
up in other regions. The distribution of
some lichenicolous fungi and some rare
lichens is also insufficiently known, and
the percentages calculated in table 1 will
probably become even higher, when more
studies have been done in other areas.
The closest affinity is to the boreal zone
of North Europe (82%) and the temperate
zone (72%). The 73% found in C (Central
Europe) includes both the montane and the
alpine zone, as it was not possible to sepa-
rate these reliable from the literature. As